The Magic of Recluce - L. E. Modesitt [22]
Krystal giggled again, and sliced her drying sandwiches into halves, which she quickly ate. How she could eat so much and stay so slender I couldn’t imagine.
“Why do you teach us about so many countries, and not just the area where we will be sent?” The calm voice was Sammel’s.
“You may end up seeing more of the world than you think, and we would like you to have some idea of where you may end up. Also, you will find Hamorians in Nordla and Candarians in Hamor. Knowing their differing customs has proven useful to others and should help you.”
Myrten gave his head the smallest of shakes. Tamra stifled a grin, although I couldn’t see what was funny. Wrynn, beside me, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Krystal cut a green apple into a series of intricate slices arranged around the edge of her plate.
But no one asked another question, and Talryn volunteered nothing more about the dangergeld itself.
“You will probably have more questions. Anyone who does not want to undertake the dangergeld training, please see me when we finish eating. After the meal you will be shown your rooms, and you may spend the afternoon any way you like, including visiting the market in the harbor, or anywhere else in Nylan.
“Breakfast will be at the first bell. At the second bell, the first class will begin. You will be shown the class area on your way to your rooms.” Talryn stood up. “Please finish as you like. I will be in the next room. When you are done, gather your things and join me there.”
He pushed back his chair and departed, leaving the door behind him ajar.
Tamra raised her eyebrows, saying nothing.
“High-handed…” murmured Wrynn.
Krystal began eating the apple slices she had laid out around her plate.
Myrten pocketed two hard rolls and an apple, and Sammel frowned, either at Talryn’s departure or Myrten’s theft…or for some reason of his own. I took a last swallow from the mug, deciding against another slice of cheese. Enough was enough, and I was ready to find out what lay in store for me.
Tamra and I were the first ones on our feet. She hadn’t eaten everything on her plate, either.
As I glanced at her plate, our eyes crossed, hers looking at my partially-eaten meal. I had to grin, and, this time, she grinned back momentarily, although her expression hardened into a bored look.
I held the door for her, but she nodded. “Go ahead, Lerris. I’ll hold my own doors.”
“As you wish, lady.”
“And I’m certainly no lady, not in the way you meant.”
“I didn’t mean anything, other than courtesy. If you don’t like simple manners…” I let go of the black wood of the door and stepped back into the hallway toward the washrooms where my staff and pack were stored.
“Touchy, too. You should have red hair.”
I ignored her comments, although I could feel the flush in my face.
“Healthy circulation, if thin-skinned.”
Did the bitch needle everyone, or just those she could bully? I wished my thoughts were as quick as hers, but trying to match her would just make the situation worse.
The staff was where I left it, the lorken wood a shade warmer to my touch. Was that because we were in Nylan? Did it have some response of its own to magic or danger? I shook my head.
“Why the frown?” Sammel’s voice was concerned. He probably always sounded concerned. He looked like his vocation was trying to do good whether anyone wanted it or not.
“Just thinking…wondering about all the black, whether it meant magic.”
“It probably does. The Brotherhood couldn’t have shaped the harbor or the cliffs without some fantastic forces. But they mean well, I think.”
“So did Heldry the Mad.”
Sammel smiled. “The Brotherhood doesn’t hold mass executions.”
I shrugged on my pack. “They settle for dangergeld and exile. That way the deaths are on someone else’s hands.”
“You are rather bitter for someone so young.”
“That’s easy when you’re forced on a dangergeld for a reason you don’t know by a group that enforces unspoken rules in unsaid ways.”
That stopped him long enough for me to step around him and past Myrten. Tamra’s back was in front of me as